The photo is sourced from Geogia Power
Just as Vogtle Unit 3 that was put into operation in the summer of 2023, Unit 4 will have a “net” power of 1.1 GW. Construction of both units was launched as early as 2009. The initial capital cost estimate was $14 bn, with commissioning scheduled for 2016. In fact, construction of the two reactors extended over a decade and a half, and the cost budget grew to $30 bn. On the other hand, the new power plant eventually became the nation’s largest nuclear facility, leaving behind the once number one Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in terms of total net power (4.54 GW vs 3.94 GW).
The United States remains the world’s leader in terms of installed nuclear power capacity. According to IAEA, as of March 2024, 93 reactors with the total net capacity of 95.8 GW were continuously in operation throughout the country. In this respect, the United States outperforms France with its 56 operational reactors totaling 61.4 GW, and China, which has 55 reactors with the total capacity of 53.2 GW. However China is the undisputed leader in terms of construction rate of new capacity: to date, there are 23 reactors totaling 23.7 GW under construction in China, while France and the US have only two in-process reactors between them with combined capacity of 1.7 GW, including the Vogtle Unit 4 (in accordance with the IAEA methodology, the “under construction” status is withdrawn as the reactor is put into full-scale operation).
One of the factors slowing down the commissioning of new reactors in the US is toughening competition from wind and solar power, in particular as RE technologies become increasingly affordable. According to the Energy Information Agency (EIA), the average commissioning cost of photovoltaic units in the US dropped by more than half between 2013 and 2021 (from $3,705 to $1,561 per kW of power) and onshore wind power generators, by 25% (from $1,895 per kW to $1,428 per kW).
Therefore in the next few years nuclear capacity commissioning in the US will be associated primarily with the adoption of new technologies, in particular small modular reactors and fast reactors. The relevant projects have been planned by NuScale and TerraPower.
